Queer Romance

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Works that have a same-gender and/or transgender romance as a major theme.

In the West, gay and lesbian romances aimed at LGBT readers have existed as a publishing niche since the 1950s, but are still relatively obscure (and Sturgeon's Law and The Theorem of Narrow Interests applies to what can be found). Most broadly-known Western same-sex and LGBT romances are aimed at general audiences, and have a tendency to be tragic.

In Japanese media, these have more well-defined genre expectations and usually fall into the Yaoi Genre (m/m romance for a female audience), Bara Genre (m/m romance for gay/bi men), and Yuri Genre (f/f romance generally, although there is a separation between works for men, for women in general, and for lesbians in specific).

Examples:

Arashi No Yoru Ni was always this, but became most obvious after the 2005 animated film, when both lead characters were cast with unmistakably male voices. It's about a wolf and a goat who become best friends, however, it's tinged with romanticsubtext.

Wandering Son is a Slice of Life revolving around two transsexual children. While Takatsuki (a trans boy) doesn't have any major crushes but the trans girl protagonist has had quite a few crushes on girls (including Takatsuki himself though) and even gains a girlfriend halfway through the manga.

Aoi Hana, by the same author as Wandering Son has a predominantly straight cast overall, but the main characters are mostly lesbians.

Ohana Holoholo is a part Slice of Life, part romance story revolving around two bisexual women who used to date and are now trying to live together platonically.

Bokura no Hentai is a Otokonoko Genre deconstruction where the main characters are a straight trans girl, a straight crossdresser, and a gay crossdresser. Marika has feelings for both of the others main characters, Ryousuke eventually falls for Marika, and Parou likes both. There's also the Long-Haired Pretty Boy Satoshi who has feelings for Marika no matter her gender.

Yuri!!! on Ice was shaping up to be an anime that pushed the limits of how far queerbaiting could go with the intensely homoerotic relationship between professional ice skater Yuri Katsuki and his world-renowned coach Victor Nikiforov. That is, until midway through its run — in Episode 7, Victor kisses Yuri on international television, and Yuri On Ice became the first mainstream sports anime (and, in the larger scheme of things, one of the first mainstream anime in general) to depict a healthy, normalized same-sex couple.

All over the place in Circles, but then again this goes without saying. Every main character ends up in a relationship and as a couple

Fanfiction

Faith and Buffy's Super-Happy-Ending-Bedtime-StoryStory's Page on TtH.: This is an epic telling (three novel-length installments so far and counting) of the love affair between Buffy and Faith, in a version of the universe that is as close as possible to what we saw in the show itself. The story takes no shortcuts—the two girls start as enemies, and the transition to loving relationship is slow, and strewn with setbacks.

In Vathara's Desert Fox, there is a lesbian couple consisting of a human and a gargoyle, both original characters. The human is a Native American woman and undercover DEA agent and they're both on the run from drug smugglers.

Trowa and Quatre of Vathara's Upon a Fiery Steed, who come from another solar system instead of ours in this AU fusion where there's apparently so much acceptance that the word for "spouse" is "life partner."

One of the main subplots in The Glaceon and the Shadow is a very cute romance between Larissa and Sofia, which triggers major character development for both of them.

Film — Gay

All Over The Guy, a story about two friends who set up their gay friends up on a horrible first date.

Twenty Four Nights, a story about a gay man who lives with his sister who writes a letter to Santa Claus.

The War Boys, a story about 3 friends who often go out on the border to cause trouble.

Weekend, a story about a gay man who ends up knowing more about his one night stand.

Were the World Mine is about an entire town falling into a Love Spell that makes half the cast gay.

Film — Lesbian

Aimée & Jaguar has a wife of a Nazi officer and a Jewish woman falling in love in 1940s Germany.

But I'm a Cheerleader is about a teenage girl accused of being lesbian by her family and sent to a camp to "cure" her. As it turns out, she realizes she is lesbian when she falls for another girl at the camp. Considered something of a period piece, as it was made in the early 2000s and set to an then-contemporary indie lesbian soundtrack.

Carol, based on the 1950s novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Married mother Carol (Blanchett) has an affair with shop assistant Therese (Mara). This is in the USA in the 1950s, so matters do not proceed entirely to their advantage.

Fucking Åmål, a Swedish movie about Agnes and Elin, two Schoolgirl Lesbians. Don't let the title distract you, it's a reference to how trapped Elin feels in the small town, and it's overall quite a sweet romance between a shut-in, over-emotional indie kid, Elin and the Hard-Drinking Party Girl, Agnes, she has a crush on, who she bonds with and eventually has a relationship with after her birthday party Goes Horribly Wrong and Agnes turns up for a joke.

Imagine Me & You, which is about a woman who falls in love with the florist, Luce who catered for her straight wedding. Features an incredibly heartwarming final scene and lots of flowers.

Lianna, a 1983 movie about a woman who realizes her same-sex attraction.

Mädchen in Uniform is a German film about a fourteen year old girl who goes to an all-girls boarding school and falls for her teacher. It's considered one of the earliest depictions of same-gender attraction in film.

The protagonist of Out At The Wedding is a straight woman but there are two lesbian mains and a gay side character. The story is about a woman who pretends to be gay because she is afraid her parents will have a negative reaction towards her black boyfriend. Her recently married sister turns out to be lesbian but deeply closeted. She falls for her sister's beard and dumps her husband at the end.

The Book of All Hours, where the central story is Jack trying to save his love Thomas from dying by finding the one fold in the multiverse of the Vellum where he isn't murdered. Also, a brutal criticism of the trope Bury Your Gays.

A fair number of British boarding-school stories written by Dorita Fairlie-Bruce and Angela Brazil, among others. Just to what extent these reflect overt lesbianism is up to you, but kissing between best friends (implied to be several kisses in a row, delivered with feeling, and not just a hesitant stolen peck) occurs in the canons of both the above authors and would appear to satisfy this trope.

Some of Edgar Pangborn's post-holocaust stories feature strong same-sex friendships, often implied to be gay ("Tiger Boy") if not stated outright ("Harper Conan and Singer David", "The Night Wind"). And yes, most of these friendships/romances are doomed, one way or another.

Katherine V. Forrest wrote lesbian romances (such as An Emergence of Green) as well as mysteries and science fiction with lesbian relationships.

King And King is a children's book about a prince who falls in love with another prince, rather than any of the princesses presented to him. Caused quite a bit of controversy...

The Last Herald-Mage trilogy of the Heralds of Valdemar series has The Hero Vanyel's homosexuality as a primary plot element. His first love, Tylendel, awakens him not only to his sexual orientation but also to his mage powers, and his sexuality and the reactions of others to it is a defining part of his characterization.

The Rifter a fantasy novel with a male-male romance at the center of it.

Slave World has many relationships ranging the gamut of non-heteronormativity, including some same-gender romances.

Cut And Run is a romance/mystery-thriller series about two bisexual FBI agents who become partners. Several of the supporting characters in later novels are also bisexual, gay, and/or on the asexual spectrum.

Wicked is full of gay and bi characters. The most obvious is Glinda's and Elphaba's relationship, which is very tinged with romantic implications though it's left vague if they were truly ever a couple. Even years after Elphaba's death, Glinda is in mourning.

The L Word follows the stories of a group of queer women in Los Angeles.

Xena: Warrior Princess has Les Yay as a core story element. Since Xena and Gabrielle are soul-mates, they get together in many different incarnations. In the twentieth century, they end up with their clones getting together, their reincarnated selves getting together, and their suspiciously familiar descendants getting together. Therefore, this could be considered a happy-ending, even though the original characters, onscreen, don't get one.

Orange Is the New Black has quite a few characters that are lesbian or bisexual, including Piper, Poussey, Alex, Nicky, Sophia and Suzanne. The show also includes a transwoman, Sophia, who has had a troubled relationship with her wife and son since transitioning. Romantic relationships are in focus just as much non-romantic ones, and much tension derives from them. The show also addresses and acknowledges issues of homophobia and transphobia.

Aside from being a serial killer drama, Hannibal focuses a lot on psychology, emotions and the relationships between the characters, mainly the complicated one between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. They early on develop a deep sense of kinship and mutual understanding, and by the end of the series, its revealed that they have romantic feelings for each other.

Music

Studio Killers is a 'fictional' band with a bisexual female singer. Cherry has quite a few songs about feelings for women, such as "Jenny" being about her wanting to date her best friend.

Theatre

There are several romantic pairings in the play The Miracle At Naples, but possibly the most adorable is the two male best friends who fall for each other.

Among other themes that were considered subversive at the time, there is a gay romantic pairing in the play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (you may know it from the recent musical version).

RENT features two main non-straight couples: Maureen/Joanne and Collins/Angel.

Angels in America revolves around a number of queer characters, including a drag queen, a pair of closeted gay men (not together), and a few open gay men.

Thrill Me is based on the Leopold and Loeb case, and so Nathan and Richard are in a sexual relationship. Whether it's romantic is a matter of opinion.

Black Closet is half detective game, half lesbian-romance game. It's set at a One-Gender School, so both the protagonist and all the romance options are female. Various background characters are also mentioned as at least flirting with being Schoolgirl Lesbians.

Sandra K. Fuhr's comics. Boy Meets Boy deals mainly with a male/male romance. Successor comic Friendly Hostility focuses more on the wider life of a same-sex couple, but keeps romantic elements. However, newest entry to the universe Other People's Business relegates same-sex romance to background details (albeit important background details).

Check, Please!! There's a happy m/m relationship between two boys, one gay and one with an unspecified sexuality. It has a very slow burn. There are also implications of a past same-gender relationship with one of the boys and another boy.

Fluttering Feelings is a Korean webcomic between two bisexual women slowly realizing their feelings for each other. Until then they had only dated men.

Homestuck: There is some teen romance that's given a fair-sized focus in Homestuck, including couples of all orientations: Rose/Kanaya, Dirk/Jake and Horuss/Rufioh, to name a few couples. At least two of the above relationships are rather unhealthy, though.

Ignition Zero is an Urban Fantasy comic where the protagonist, Robbie, and his friend Orson fall in love. They're both asexual men.

Incubus Tales focuses on the adventures of a traveling Incubus, and the people he meets.

Khaos Komix focuses on romance between a cast of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans characters.

Parhelion has a central gay relationship, lesbian side characters, and about seventy percent of aliens go by 'they' when addressed in English.

Punch an' Pie's main characters are a pair of bisexual women who end up getting involved with both men and women.

Relativity follows the effects of a lightspeed space travel mission on an astronaut's relationship with her wife. As well as what happens when she ends up in an alternate universe where she and her wife divorced.

Rockand Riot follows the high school life of two rival gangs in the 50s, with queer couples abounding.

Welcome to Night Vale features the Adorkable romance of Cecil and Carlos in addition to the usual eldritch horrors of the eponymous town in the desert, starting in episode 25 where Carlos reciprocates Cecil's crush and in episode 27 when they start dating.

Carmilla the Series is a Setting Update to the famous Lesbian Vampire story Carmilla. It features many queers and vampires, including the two protagonists, Carmilla, a lesbian vampire with loads of history, and Laura, a precocious university student and part-time investigator of the paranormal at Silas University. Their friends include childhood friends Perry, an orderly, mortherly girl who clean when she is nervous, and La Fontaine, a gender-queer science geek who may or may not be in love with a former digitalized human soul.

Gems in Steven Universe are Humanoid Aliens who have no gender, but all present themselves in a feminine way and use "she/her" pronouns. Ruby and Sapphire, the Gems who fuse to make up Garnet, are confirmed by both Word of God and in the show to be in a romantic relationship. One of the plot points for an episode is that Garnet doesn't want to be in a romantic relationship, because she is a romantic relationship. Pearl's devotion to and feelings for Steven's mother, Rose Quartz, have also been confirmed by both Word of God and shown in the show to be romantic.

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